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Fermentation Atlas

Cereals and bread from Bangladesh, West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala

Panta bhat / pakhala / poita bhat (fermented cooked rice in water)পান্তা ভাত

Leftover cooked rice is covered with water and left overnight, for at least 12 hours. Lactic bacteria such as Leuconostoc and Weissella grow in it and sour it slightly. The rice and its sour water are eaten cold for breakfast with salt, green chillies and onion. Made in 3 steps over 12 h – 19 h. The longest step, cover with water and leave overnight, takes 12–18 h (Afrin S 2024) and runs at 25–30 °C (Afrin S 2024). Leuconostoc lactis and Weissella confusa does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step12–18 hReported[afrin2024][hariharamohan2026]Cover with water and leave overnight
Temperature25–30 °CReported[afrin2024][hariharamohan2026]Cover with water and leave overnight
Fully documentedCereals and bread12 h – 19 hMore cereals and breadMore from IndiaMore from Bangladesh

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceHousehold dish with no fixed amounts. The 1:7 ratio is from one study of Kerala red rice water.
Cooked rice · Washed and cooked 20–30 min, then cooled to room temperature[afrin2024]
Enough to submerge the rice; 1 part rice to 7 parts water (w/v) in one studyDrinking water[afrin2024][hariharamohan2026]
To tasteSalt, green chillies and onion · To serve[afrin2024]
Starterspontaneous

Total time across the recorded steps: 12 h – 19 h

Start
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What changes: Rice is cooked and left to cool

Step 1 of 3
Cook and cool the rice
Time
20–30 min
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: cooled cooked rice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Panta bhat ferments rice that is already cooked, in plain water, with nothing added. Batter ferments such as idli and puto start from raw soaked rice instead. It is ready in one night and is eaten unheated.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Pakhala (Odisha)The Odia name for soaked rice.
  • Torani (Odisha)The sour water drunk on its own, studied as an overnight fermented rice water drink.
  • Pazhaya sadam and pazhankanjiTamil and Malayali names; Kerala red rice water is a version studied after 18 h.

Safety

The sources set no pH or storage limits. One study chose 18 h of soaking to reach the acid phase below pH 5.5.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

  1. [afrin2024] Afrin S., Orr C.H., Kuba S. et al. 2024, Microbiome profile and nutritional benefits of traditional overnight soaked cooked rice, Food and Humanity 3:100410paper
  2. [hariharamohan2026] Hariharamohan M., Chindarkar M. et al. 2026, Integrating physicochemical and microbial characterization of red rice broth fermented over an 18-hour period augmented with metagenomic and metabolomic approaches, RSC Advances 16:21129–21141paper
  3. [pathi2025] Pathi B.K., Sahoo J.P. et al. 2025, Prevention of Clostridium difficile infection among hospitalized elderly patients using Torani (fermented rice water) and xylitol mixture drink, study protocol, Cureus 17:e85635paper